Jasmine Restaurant.
Mingyue looked at the bloody steak in front of her and pouted, "Sis, this restaurant is ripping us off. It's not like we're short of money. Why are they serving us bloody steaks? How are we supposed to eat this?"
"This is a medium-rare steak, so this is how you eat it."
Mingjing also couldn't stand this kind of steak. It had a bloody smell and needed to be dipped in sauce. It tasted like raw meat, and there might even be parasites in it.
"Ugh, this tastes awful!" Mingyue, afraid of being laughed at, dared not make a sound. She imitated the people around her, holding a fork in her left hand and a knife in her right, and began to cut the food with a grimace.
She heard from Erdan next door that his dad took him to a Western restaurant, where the steak was tender and delicious, and he even licked the plate clean. He never expected it to be so bad.
They didn't eat much before the Mingjing sisters hurried home.
Ming Dahai was building a coop for the chickens and ducks in the yard.
"Mingjing, why are you selling so many things?"
Ming Dahai sighed when he saw what Ming Jing was holding.
"It wasn't much money, but the daily necessities I bought for our family are all usable. Please don't wear ripped underwear anymore."
Mingjing pointed to the torn underwear, socks, and tattered towel hanging on the rope.
"We have to be frugal," Ming Dahai muttered to himself, taking the bag with delight.
Sun Yunmei brought over two glasses of water and looked through Mingjing's shopping bag. "How was your day?"
"Oysters aren't expensive, only three or four thousand yuan in total. I took Mingyue out for a steak dinner."
Mingjing took out some money and handed it to Sun Yunmei.
"The price of pearl oysters is quite good," Sun Yunmei said with a smile as she counted the money.
Since our daughter was blessed by the Goddess of the Sea, our family has been getting richer and richer, and our lives have been getting better and better.
She calculated that she had over 10,000 yuan in cash at home and was gradually having some extra money.
"Mom, how much money do we have? It's not safe to keep so much money at home. I saw a bank in the city today. Let's go there to deposit the money and get a passbook another day."
Nowadays, not many people go to the bank to deposit money or open a passbook. The main reason is that people don't have much spare money and don't like going to the bank.
Sun Yunmei shook her head, "No need, I plan to use this money to help your brother get married, so she won't keep thinking about Qian Jiu'er. It will be more reassuring once she's married. I'll have your uncle propose marriage in a few days."
"Forget it, let that kid be a live-in son-in-law if he wants to. You think they've already caused enough trouble for this family? You expect him to take care of you in your old age?"
Sun Yunmei sighed, her eyes brimming with tears, "If the eldest brother were still alive, I wouldn't count on him."
Upon hearing this, fragmented memories of the eldest brother, Mingguang, surfaced in Mingjing's mind.
Mingguang was the eldest child in the Ming family, eight years older than Mingliang. He was good-looking, kind-hearted, and quick-witted. He always smiled at everyone he met, and no one in the village disliked him.
To earn money to support his family, Mingguang dropped out of school early. In addition to his daily routine of going to the beach to collect seafood, he also went down to sea with Minghai to catch abalone and collect other seafood.
Later, he got married and his wife gave birth to a boy. In order to support his family, he heard that the abalone in the deep sea were large and plentiful and worth a lot of money, so he went diving into the deep sea alone.
He never returned. When his wife learned that Mingguang had died at sea, she immediately took the children and left the island. She heard that he had remarried to a teacher in town.
The elderly couple initially missed their grandson and frequently went to town to look for him, but they couldn't find him, so they eventually gave up on thinking about him altogether.
They would only occasionally take out Mingguang's photo, and the old couple would hide under the covers and cry.
Mingjing broke the silence by saying, "Mom and Dad, when you have some free time, you should open a savings account. It'll give you peace of mind."
“Okay.” Sun Yunmei wiped away her tears, took out seven or eight bills, and returned the rest to Mingjing. “Mingjing, take this money and go deposit it.”
“You are capable of earning money now, and Mom believes you can manage it. You can deposit it in the bank; I'll keep it for my living expenses.”
"Mom, what are you doing? We're all family, I can't accept this money," Mingjing refused.
“Take it. Your dad and I don’t know how to save money. You can guard against thieves in your own house, but it’s hard to guard against them. Your dad is right, you can’t rely on your brother. I’m afraid your brother will have designs on you. Take it.”
After saying that, Sun Yunmei went back into the house, opened a drawer, took out a red cloth, and immediately wrapped a thick stack of banknotes.
"Here is a total of 38,500. I won't mention the change. Plus what you have in your hand, keep it all and deposit it in the city next time you go."
Mingjing still declined, "Mom, keep these for now. Give me the money next time I go to the city. Don't let too much attract attention. Keep them safe."
Sun Yunmei nodded, smiled, went back into the house and put all the money under her pillow. Then she went out and chased away the chickens and ducks that were eating rice.
"Mingjing, get me a hammer," Ming Dahai said, squatting in the corner of the yard building a chicken coop.
A thatched hut, about the height of a local temple, was built with broken bricks and fresh straw. A fence made of thin bamboo surrounded the walls, and the ground was cultivated mud.
There was a short, crooked, withered tree stuck in the fence. Ming Dahai was reinforcing the tree with nails and dead branches to keep it triangular, and he was also putting a chicken coop on it.
Mingjing handed over the hammer and said to Minghai, "Dad, I'll bring you two piglets when I go to the city next time. You can fix up the pigsty when you have time."
"OK!"
Ming Dahai agreed, and his heart grew increasingly hopeful.
"By the way, Mingjing, if you have time tomorrow, go buy a stack of incense and fruit. It's time for us to worship the Sea Goddess."
"I understand," Mingjing said before returning to her room.
Just as Mingjing was about to lie down, the mobile phone on the table made a sound.
"Hello?"
"Mingjing, how are you? Are you alright?" Bai Jiwen called.
Mingjing and Bai Jiwen chatted for a while and then talked about what happened at the police station.
Bai Jiwen didn't know who the whistleblower was, but he told Mingjing to contact him if she had any difficulties. Mingjing agreed, and the two exchanged a few more words before hanging up.
In bed, Mingjing kept thinking about the whistleblower. The original owner had acted eccentrically and flamboyantly, offending many people, but they were all minor matters and shouldn't be emotional debts.
Could it be a competitor?
As Mingjing was thinking, Mingyue pushed open the door and walked in, wearing a hair clip and a brand new blue lace-trimmed dress.
"Sis, am I pretty?"
"It looks good." Mingjing nodded, her mind not on Mingyue, and turned to ask, "Mingyue, who do you think we offended?"
Mingyue frowned and shook her head. "I don't know, sister. Actually, we feel like we've offended quite a few people."
“Look, first of all, it’s my second uncle. He’s always disliked us. He must have been angry that day when we didn’t find any lobsters.”
"Or it's the village chief. He's always looked down on you, and now that we're making money, how can he not be envious?"
Mingyue's little brain started working again, "And another thing, the Zhao family, what if they get jealous if we sell the stuff to someone else..."
"Zhao Dali?"
Mingjing suddenly remembered that Mingyue said she saw Zhao Dali in town that day. Could it be that he went to report him?
"Sis, it's the Zhao family's electric fishing!"
Mingyue became even more certain and said firmly, "No wonder the Zhao family has been getting so much seafood lately. They even have big stingrays, groupers, and silver ribbonfish in baskets."
"They must have been fishing with electricity, sis. Let's call the police. We can't just suffer in silence."
Mingjing sighed that it was a pity that Mingyue's clever little brain wasn't used to solve cases.
"No, we're all from the same village. Everyone's already envious of how much money we make. Old Zhao's family is the only fish-buying point in the village, and he has a lot of friends there."
If you arrest him, how are we supposed to stay in the village? And do you even have any evidence?
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